The Hand that Rocks the Castle
by Operas'n'Cartoons1883
Summary: In this stylized version of Gravity Falls, Princess Mabel (Mabel Pines) meets a young prince named Gideon (Gideon Gleeful). Meanwhile, an offhand remark from King Stephen (Stanford Pines) leads to tragic consequences.
1. Cast List

**Cast List**

Our story takes place during the Middle Ages, but some items that wouldn't be around for less than 1000 years will be inserted, mainly for humor.

Stanford Pines is **King Stephen of Pines**, an old king who is the widowed father of Prince Alexander and Princess Mabel. Amongst other things, he enjoys jousting, horseback riding, and watching Disney movies with his children.

Dipper Pines is **Prince Alexander**, the son of King Stephen and the twin brother of Princess Mabel. His father is teaching him how to hunt and hawk, like what normal boys did in those days. He doesn't really understand all the training his father is putting him through, but his father knows that it will benefit him on the long run.

Mabel Pines is **Princess Mabel**, the daughter of King Stephen and the twin sister of Prince Alexander. A young girl being taught to sew, she is the favored child of her father. One day, when she meets Gideon, the prince of a neighboring kingdom, she tries to befriend him. But Prince Gideon has other plans.

Wendy Corduroy is Princess Mabel's lady-in-waiting. A sarcastic young lady of fifteen, she nevertheless serves as the voice of reason for King Stephen, as well as being a big-sister-figure to the twins.

Soos is King Stephen's Captain of the Guard. He is a rather intelligent young man, even if a bit naïve. Ever loyal and ready to serve King Stephen, he is the one who guards the castle gates from enemies.

Bud Gleeful is **King Robert of Gleeful**, King Stephen's mortal enemy and the father of Prince Gideon. He is the reason why King Stephen won't let Princess Mabel go near Prince Gideon. He may be an affable man, but after he sees Prince Gideon with Princess Mabel, he feels that they're meant to be together.

Gideon Gleeful is **Prince Gideon**, the son of King Robert. Princess Mabel first meets him in the fields where she and her family are playing, and she at first finds him adorable. But Gideon's cuteness soon fades when he falls in love with her and decides to try to win her hand in marriage, by any means necessary.


	2. A Day in the Life of King Stephen

**Chapter 1- A Day in the Life of King Stephen**

A long time ago, in a faraway kingdom, there lived an elderly king pondering alone in his study. His face looked downcast as he thought sadly, "I am King Stephen of Pines. The people think of me as a wise and good king. Here is the captain of the guard, standing tall and strong by the castle gates. Here is my son, Alexander, my heir to the throne, a growing boy whom I am proud of. But…the people are wrong. I am neither wise, nor good, for if it hadn't been for me…_she_ would still be alive."

_One year earlier_

Three trumpeters tooted their horns as a pageboy announced, "His Majesty of the Kingdom of Pines, King Stephen!" In came King Stephen, with an air of regal dignity. Up the red carpet he strode, until he came to his throne, and there he sat. Beneath the red ermine cape, the king wore a royal purple jacket with gold trim, a red tunic with a leather belt, a gold chain, and a golden bejeweled crown on the top of his head, which was covered with silvery flowing locks of hair.

The three trumpeters again tooted their horns as the pageboy again announced, "And now, the Royal Twins, Prince Alexander and Princess Mabel!" In came the two children, in all their gaiety. Princess Mabel, the older twin by five minutes, wore a pink dress and hennin, with some light yellow on the hennin and skirt and a lavender veil on the hennin. Prince Alexander, the younger twin, wore a blue jacket with red-striped puff sleeves and a white collar, blue pants, black boots, and a golden crown on his brown hair.

After the royal twins had approached their old father, a town crier with the face of a toad, who kept passing himself as a royal messenger, came to the royal family. His name was Toby of Determined, and he said to the family, "Smile for the camera."

King Stephen was not amused and pointed out, "Your camera's a cinderblock, Toby."

Toby sighed, "I just wanna be a part of things."

Presently, a real royal messenger, and a very attractive one at that, appeared to the royal family and introduced herself, "Shandra of Jimenez, a _real_ royal messenger. Smile for the _real_ camera."

Princess Mabel, always the cheerful one, said to her father and brother, "Everybody say something stupid!"

Stephen and Alexander then joined her in saying, "Something stupid!" And Shandra of Jimenez snapped a picture of the royal family.

Afterwards, Stephen exclaimed, "Bring on the random banquet for no reason!"

And the banquet began. Ah, what a marvelous banquet it was! It had everything from roast beef to whole capon, from mutton to swan to peacock. It all looked quite tasty, especially to the royal family, and they and the people sat down to eat.

Following the random banquet for no reason, King Stephen announced to his people, "Everyone back to their places! It is now time for me to prepare for my monthly jousting tournament."

A few minutes later, the old king was having his armor put on by Soos, his captain of the guard. After a little while, he mounted his pony, which bore a passing resemblance to Rainbow Dash from _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_. Once on his pony, Soos presented him with his shield, which had a golden Pac-Man fez symbol on a field of red, and his lance. King Stephen was ready for the tournament.

His opponent came from an enemy kingdom, the Kingdom of Gleeful. His name was King Robert. A big fat king with a receding hairline, he rode upon a great big horse with a big toothy grin.

Prince Alexander, sitting between his sister and Soos, commented, "Wow, the Kingdom of Gleeful is like a bizarro version of our kingdom. They even have their own Soos."

Upon seeing King Robert's captain of the guard, aptly named Deuce, Soos glared at him angrily.

As King Robert approached his old opponent, he laughed at him, saying, "How can you hope to beat me when your horse looks so girly?"

This made King Stephen feel embarrassed and indignant at his rival. "So you think I'm girly, huh?" he retorted. "I'll show you 'girly' in the joust!"

"Oh, yeah," taunted Robert. "Well, I've still got my queen, and my son Gideon is the most remarkable boy I ever knew."

Stephen promptly bluffed, "I'm not bothered by that."

As soon as the two kings got to their positions, the trumpets sounded, and there they went!

Both Stephen and Robert were moving at a furious pace. It was going to be ghastly! As the kings charged at each other, Alexander and Mabel shouted, "Go, father!" And Soos cheered with the children. With that encouragement, Stephen found the courage to smash his lance into his enemy's shield, striking him down to the ground. King Stephen had won!

The crowds cheered as their king accepted his trophy, and snapshots were taken.

Later, King Stephen took his two children, Mabel and Alexander, out into the fields for some bonding. "Now, children," Stephen said to his children. "I feel the need to teach someone to hunt and hawk. Eenie-meenie-miney…" He then pointed at his son Alexander and declared, "YOU!"

"Oh, what?" groaned Alexander. "How come I have to do all the dirty work?"

"Because life's not fair," Stephen answered. "Now stop complaining and take the hawk."

He then handed Alexander a blindfolded hawk. The young prince sighed as he removed the blindfold from the hawk and let it go find some quails and rabbits.

Afterwards, Stephen would teach his son to hunt for pheasants, partridges, and ducks. "Now, my son," he said to the boy. "When you see the target, all you have to do is aim your arrow at the game bird, and shoot. But be quiet so as not to scare it."

Alexander then pointed the arrow at the pheasant, pulled the bowstring, and shot the arrow at the pheasant.

When Stephen saw the pheasant fall to the ground, he said to Alexander, "Not bad, son. Not bad."

Meanwhile, Mabel was picking flowers with Wendy, her lady-in-waiting. As they laughed, they little realized that they were being watched…by young Prince Gideon and his father King Robert of Gleeful.

King Robert said to his son, "What a lovely little lady Princess Mabel is."

Prince Gideon sighed, "Father, I love her. I wanna marry her."

That night, King Stephen bonded with his two children, watching _Bambi_ on the Disney Channel with Soos. They all had a really good time, laughing at the scene where Bambi was learning to talk and where Thumper was trying to teach Bambi how to slide on the ice. But then, at that one point in the movie, Bambi's mother raised her head, looked around, and said to her son, "Bambi, quick! The thicket!"

The royal family gazed in apprehension at the TV screen as Bambi and his mother raced to the thicket. "Faster! Faster, Bambi!" the mother cried out. "Don't look back! Keep running! Keep running!"

Then King Stephen, knowing the worst, covered the ears of the twins just before the gunshot was heard. As Bambi started searching for his mother, the old king thought to himself, "I'm never going deer hunting again."

Stephen's own captain of the guard was crying as Bambi was met with the Great Prince of the Forest, who said with characteristic solemnity, "Your mother can't be with you anymore."

Stephen then noticed that his own children were crying over the demise of Bambi's mother, and, realizing that the scene was hitting too close to home, he bowed his head sadly. Tears were rolling down his face. The very fact that his own queen, who bore him his children, was no longer with them just broke his heart.


	3. Prince Gideon Comes Over to Visit

**Chapter 2- Prince Gideon Comes Over to Visit**

The next day, Princess Mabel came up to her brother and said to him, "Check it out, Alexander! I've successfully bedazzled my face! Blink! Ow."

Prince Alexander asked Mabel, "Is that permanent?"

Mabel sighed, "I'm unappreciated in my time…"

Presently, there was a knock on the castle door. King Stephen shouted from the dining hall, "Somebody answer that door!"

"I'll get it!" Mabel replied, and when she went and opened the castle door, she saw the young Prince Gideon of Gleeful.

Gideon said to Mabel, "Howdy! I'm Prince Gideon of Gleeful. Now, I know we haven't formally met, but ever since yesterday, I just couldn't get your laugh out of my head."

"You mean this one?" asked Mabel and she laughed.

"Oh, what a delight!" said Gideon. "Now, when I saw you playing in the fields, I said to myself, 'Now there's a kindred spirit, someone who appreciates the sparkly things in life.'"

"That's totally me!" Mabel laughed before she started coughing up rhinestones onto Prince Gideon's jacket.

"Enchanting." the young prince thought. "Utterly enchanting."

Just then, King Stephen was heard to shout, "Who's at the door?"

Princess Mabel fibbed, "No one, father!"

"I appreciate your discretion," Gideon said to Mabel. "Now, your father's no fan of my family. I don't know how a lemon so sour could beget a peach so sweet. What do you say we step away from here and chat a bit more, perhaps in my father's castle?"

Mabel then said to Gideon, "It's a deal."

And Gideon said to Mabel, "Okay. Tonight, at seven o'clock."

After Prince Gideon had left King Stephen's castle, Mabel approached her brother and said, "Hey, Alexander, I was hanging out with my new pal, Prince Gideon. He is one dapper little man."

Alexander then told his sister, "Mabel, I don't trust anyone whose hair is bigger than their head."

"Oh, leave him alone!" Mabel said to Alexander. "You never want to do girly stuff with me; you and Soos get to do boy stuff all the time!"

"What do you mean?" asked Alexander.

Just then, the captain of the guard came by and said to Alexander, "Hey dude, you ready to blow up these hot dogs in the fireplace one by one?"

"AM I!" Alexander exclaimed, and he rushed off with the captain of the guard to do just that.

That night, Princess Mabel was in her bedroom, sewing, when she heard a small rock tapping onto her window. When she looked outside, she saw Prince Gideon upon his horse, waving his hand and saying, "A night of enchantment awaits, milady."

Princess Mabel then leapt out the window and landed on Gideon's horse, and off they rode to Prince Gideon's castle.

Once there, Prince Gideon took Princess Mabel on something of a tour. "This is the captain of the guard, Deuce," he said as he approached the gate and led Mabel into the castle.

He then pointed out his parents, King Robert (you all know him) and his poor nervous wreck of a queen. But after entering his bedroom, he said to Mabel, "Prepare to be amazed by the view from the balcony!" And with that, he opened the window and showed Mabel everything.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Mabel. "The view from the balcony is magnificent! Good thing we both brought our…" she said with Gideon, "…opera glasses!"

Prince Gideon then whispered rather sinisterly, "One of these days, my old man says, I will be king of all I survey…" He then said out loud to Mabel in a much more cheerful tone, "And that'll make you my queen!"

"What?" asked Mabel in disbelief. "You are being so nice to me right now, quit it!"

"I can't quit it," said Gideon. "I am speaking from the heart. Do you wanna go on a date with me?"

He then tried to stroke Mabel's hair, but she pushed his hand away and said, "Look, Gideon. I like you a lot, but let's just be friends."

But Gideon persisted and said to her, "It'll just be one lil' ol' date, I swear."

Princess Mabel, seeing that she had no choice, sighed, "Ummm. Ok, then… I guess…"

Prince Gideon happily shouted, "Princess Mabel of Pines, you have made me the happiest boy in the world!"

He then hugged Mabel, who asked him, "Are you sniffing my hair?"


	4. King Stephen Finds Out

**Chapter 3- King Stephen Finds Out**

The next day, King Stephen approached his son, his captain of the guard, and his daughter's lady-in-waiting, and said to them, "Where on earth is Princess Mabel? I have searched everywhere in the castle and have failed to find her."

Wendy, the lady-in-waiting, then nonchalantly said to the king, "Oh, yeah, it's like a big deal. Everybody's talking about Prince Gideon and Princess Mabel's big date tonight."

King Stephen was shocked and furious! "That little troll dare defile my daughter!?" he growled.

And then Soos, the captain of the guard, remarked, "I wonder what the new name will be for the power couple. Mabideon? Gideabel? *Gasps* Magidbeleon!"

The old king then stormed to the castle door with rage in his heart. His son, Alexander, called out, "I didn't know! I didn't hear about it and plus, I told her not to."

Stephen then exclaimed, "Yeah, well it ends tonight. I'm going right down to my enemy's castle; this is going to stop RIGHT now!" And he slammed the door.

Presently, Soos found the time to make a joke: "Wouldn't it be funny if that was a closet, and he had to come back out again and go out the real door?" He then opened the door to check if it was the real door or not. "Nope. Real door," he said.

Later, King Stephen raced Rainbow Dash and pulled her to a halt in front of King Robert's castle. He then dismounted his pony and stormed to the front door.

"Gideon, you scurvy brat!" he yelled. "Open up!" He then noticed a sign on the door that said, Pardon this Garden. Disgusted, Stephen slammed the sign to the ground and growled, "I will pardon nothing!"

Just then, King Robert opened the door, and upon seeing his old rival, declared, "Why, King Stephen of Pines! What a delight!"

"Out of the way, Bob!" snarled Stephen. "I'm looking for Gideon!"

King Robert then said, "Well, I haven't seen the boy around, but since you're here, you simply _must_ come in for dinner, flavored with Oriental spices that have been sold by Moslem merchants!"

"Wow!" King Stephen thought. "I fought the Moslems in the Crusades."

After both kings sat down in the royal couch, King Robert said to Stephen, "Now I hear that your daughter and my son are, well, they're singing in harmony lately so to speak!"

"Yes, and I'm against it!" shouted Stephen rather bluntly.

"No no no," said King Robert. "I see it as a fantastic business opportunity. Yes, your kingdom and mine. We've been at each other's throats for far too long. This is our big chance to set aside our rivalry and pool our collective profit, so to speak. Just marry your daughter off to my son, and we will both be happy."

But King Stephen wouldn't listen, and remarked, "I would rather see my daughter die by the sword than marry her off to your son."

Little did either king know that listening in on this conversation was Prince Gideon.

As Gideon went up to his bedroom, he overheard Princess Mabel talking to herself, "…I mean, he's so nice, but…I can't keep doing this. But I can't break his heart. Ahh! I have no way out!"

This gave Gideon a nasty idea. "Hey, Mabel," he shouted to her, calling her attention. "Don't you want this evenin' to last, my sweet?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I mean yes. I mean I'm always happy to hang out with a friend, buddy, pal, chum, other word for friend…uh, mate?"

"How about _soulmate_?" sighed Gideon.

Mabel was dumbfounded. "I knew you'd say that," said Gideon. "Now, here's the deal. Everyone knows that love comes at a price. So here's what I want you to do…"

He then whispered something into Mabel's ear. After hearing it, Mabel was shocked! "You want me to kill my father?!" she asked in disbelief.

"If you wanna marry me," Gideon replied.

"What happens if I don't?" asked Mabel.

Suddenly, Gideon's nice façade gave way to fury, and he barked, "If you don't, then my father will declare war on your kingdom!"

Princess Mabel was horrified! She didn't like war, but at the same time, she loved her father very much. But Gideon said to her, "And to prove that you killed your father, mail me this dagger stained with your father's blood."

Poor Mabel, feeling like she had no choice, took the dagger and trudged out of the Gleeful castle to go home.


	5. Princess Mabel in Trouble

**Chapter 4- Princess Mabel in Trouble**

Later that night, Princess Mabel trudged sadly into her father's castle living room, where she saw her brother Alexander watching _Aladdin_ on the Disney Channel. Alexander asked her, "Hey! How'd it go?"

Mabel then frantically replied, "I don't know! I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone. It was like quick sand! Chubby quicksand!"

Alexander then became concerned and said, "What the heck happened on that date?"

Mabel tried to speak, but then she remembered that Prince Gideon had told her not to tell anyone about how he tried to make her kill her father so they could get married. She then turned her head, just as her father King Stephen was contemplating himself in the mirror and saying in disgust, "Ugh, I am fat."

Mabel ran upstairs screaming, and the old king, little knowing what was going on, called to her, "Bodies change, honey! Bodies change."

Prince Alexander went upstairs and saw his sister hiding in a sweater, muttering, "Mabel's not here. She's in Sweater Town."

"Are you gonna come _out_ of sweater town?" asked Alexander, to which Mabel shook her head.

Just then, Wendy, Mabel's lady-in-waiting entered and said, "How are you doin' in Sweater Town, Mabel?"

Mabel looked up and said to her lady-in-waiting, "Wendy, I need some advice. What would you do if the guy you love told you to do something morally reprehensible and not tell anyone about it?"

"You know what I'd do?" replied Wendy. "I would really consider what that guy just said and do just the opposite. Then I'd break up with him, just like what I did with Lord Robbie. Oh man, I'm not sure I ever actually broke up with him. No _wonder_ he keeps writing me those creepy love letters."

Just then, Princess Mabel got an idea and declared, "I know what I've gotta do. Thanks for talking to me, Wendy." And she took off her sweater and ran downstairs. Presently, a messenger pigeon approached Wendy with a love letter from Lord Robbie, whereupon Wendy threw it into the fireplace.

Princess Mabel approached her father and said to him, "Father, I have a confession to make. Prince Gideon has done something terrible to me."

King Stephen took pity on his daughter and said to her, "There, there. Tell me everything."

Princess Mabel then told him everything: "He took me to his castle and showed me everything, but after a while, he told me that you were planning on killing me because he overheard you saying that you would rather see me die by the sword than marry me off to him."

The old king was taken aback and said to himself, "Why would I want to kill my own daughter?"

Mabel continued: "So I hate to say this, but he's trying to make me kill you with this dagger so that we can get married, or his father would declare war on your kingdom! And to make matters worse, he wants me to mail the knife, stained with your blood, to him as proof that I killed you. I used to like Prince Gideon as a friend-slash-little-sister, but now I don't like him at all."

At first, King Stephen was a bit mad at seeing his daughter with a dagger in her hand, but his slight anger soon gave way to pride, and he said to Mabel, "Well, I see that you have learned your lesson, sweetie. You may mail the dagger clean as a whistle."

Princess Mabel thought about it a little, and eventually, she knew what to do. So she took an envelope, placed the dagger, clean as a whistle, into the envelope, and gave it to their messenger pigeon, saying to herself, "Well, if Prince Gideon wants war, then let there be war."

Then King Stephen, noticing that his family was back to normal, declared, "Now let's go and watch some Disney movies!"

Princess Mabel was excited and shouted, "I call dibs on _Mary Poppins_!"

And off the king and his daughter went to the living room to watch the Disney Channel.

Later, in the Kingdom of Gleeful, Prince Gideon and his parents received the envelope. Prince Gideon then chuckled with glee, "I see that my marshmallow has fallen through to my plan."

But imagine his shock when he opened the envelope and saw not only that the dagger was squeaky clean, without a single drop of blood, but also that King Stephen had written a note as proof that he was still alive. It said, "Suck a lemon, little man!"

Enraged, Prince Gideon tore up the note and cried out, "How dare they! I am not a threat to be taken lightly! I'll get you, King Stephen of Pines! I'LL GET YOU ALL!"

King Robert and his queen were startled by their son's temper tantrum, but the king said to himself, "Precious memories…"

Meanwhile, the poor queen sat by her spinning wheel, muttering, "Just keep spinning…just keep spinning…"


	6. War

**Chapter 5- War**

The next day, in the Kingdom of Pines, King Stephen and his children were watching Goofy cartoons on the Disney Channel. As Goofy was goofing off with the gymnastics equipment, everyone was laughing.

Suddenly, King Stephen heard someone pounding on the door. The old king approached the door and saw Prince Gideon, who looked mad as a hornet, and screamed, "King Stephen of Pines, I rebuke thee! I rebuke thee! Your entire family has invoked my fury! You will all pay recompense for your transgressions!"

"So you're saying there will be war?" Stephen asked.

Gideon's father King Robert approached King Stephen and said, "Well, uh, I see that he's taking to one of his _rages_ again, so I have to side with Gideon on this one. This means war."

King Stephen then glared at his mortal enemy and said, "Bring it on."

The next day, the armies of King Stephen faced opposite the armies of King Robert. As Soos handed Stephen his sword, the old king cried out, "For honor! For country! For family!"

On the other end, Deuce was handing King Robert his sword as the latter cried out, "For Prince Gideon to win the hand of the Princess Mabel!"

And with that, both kings and their armies charged at each other. Many swordfights ensued, and the two kings would insult each other.

"How can you win?" asked Robert to Stephen. "Not only are you old, but you have a rather girly horse too."

King Stephen responded by saying, "So you think I'm girly, huh?" And Stephen's men continued to fight Robert's men as their respective families watched.

And the war raged on, for six months, and many men were killed.

Finally, one snowy winter's night, King Robert and Prince Gideon had King Stephen and Prince Alexander cornered. When Princess Mabel saw this, she was horrified! She became even more so when she heard Prince Gideon shout these chilling words, "Prepare to meet your Maker, King Stephen of Pines!"

King Stephen, seeing that there was no way out for either himself or his son, decided to face his incoming demise with dignity, and he said to Alexander, "My son, stand up straight. After I have gone, you too must be brave even in death."

King Robert then threw his sword at his old rival, and King Stephen stood up straight and tall so as to prepare for death. But then, Princess Mabel rushed towards her father, and there was a blinding flash from the sword that obscured everything.

As soon as the light faded, King Stephen was shown to clutch his chest. Gasping, he told Prince Alexander, "Now…remember what I told you…my son…Stand up straight…and do not run from death…"

But Prince Alexander said to his father, "Father, you're not even bleeding."

It wasn't long before the old king let go of his chest and saw no blood on his clothes. "Wait," he thought. "If I'm not bleeding, and my son is still alive, then, who took the sword?"

He then turned his head, and discovered to his horror that the person who had taken the sword was his own daughter, and she was dying in the snow, for the sword had pierced her heart.

"Mabel!" gasped Stephen as he took his daughter in his arms. "You took the sword for me? But how could you? You're only twelve years old. You've got a whole life ahead of you."

Mabel then said as she took labored breathing, "Father…I care for you so much…I didn't want you to die. It is better that I die by the sword than marry Prince Gideon."

As he saw his daughter close her eyes and take her final breath, the poor old king began to weep and cried out, "Oh, but Mabel, please! Please don't die! Oh, Mabel!" As he bent over in grief, it continued to snow.

When Prince Gideon saw this, he believed that the old king had been permanently weakened, and so he raised his sword to try to kill him. But imagine his surprise when King Stephen grabbed the young prince's arm and took the sword from his hand. The old king had become so enraged at the loss of his daughter that he now wanted to avenge her.

Prince Gideon crumbled and ran to his parents screaming, "Mother! Father! That evil old man wants to kill me!"

King Robert then stepped up to King Stephen and said to him, "Hey, now, what's the idea?"

In a voice choked with rage, Stephen spat out, "Don't you see? You have killed my daughter and thus forfeited your own prize if you win! What do you have to say for yourselves!?"

Prince Gideon was so shocked he glared at his father, King Robert. "Uh-oh!" Robert thought as his old enemy thrust his sword towards him. But King Robert was not so willing to give up without a fight and, as he took another sword, he shouted, "You can't make me give up so easily!"

King Stephen and King Robert fought for at least an hour, until at last, Robert lost his sword. As Stephen raised his sword over him, King Robert had no choice but to say these simple words, "I surrender."

King Stephen then ordered his captain of the guard to arrest the royal family of Gleeful and lock them in the dungeon. Prince Gideon was so furious he fumed, "No! No! Watch the hair! You can't do this to me! We'll be back! You'll see!"


	7. The Aftermath

**Chapter 6- The Aftermath**

After defeating his enemies, King Stephen took the body of his daughter in his arms. Then he, his son, and his captain of the guard mounted their horses and rode slowly home.

On the way home, he started to get memories of himself and his daughter Mabel bonding. They used to play in the fields. Prancing in the flowery meadows, they would laugh, and Mabel would kiss her father in the cheek.

Mabel used to tell him her jokes so he could laugh away his cares. Stephen would then noogie her head affectionately and kiss her on the forehead.

And King Stephen used to kiss his daughter good night. "Ah, pleasant memories…" the old king thought.

But then, as the old king took Mabel's body into the church, he thought of a particularly painful memory where he said to King Robert, "I would rather see my daughter die by the sword than marry her off to your son." Now, how he wished he never said that! After placing the body of his beloved daughter on the altar, he burst into tears of anguish. "I have killed my own daughter!" he sobbed.

Presently, an old bishop sympathetically approached King Stephen and asked him, "King Stephen, what's the matter?"

The old king looked up to the bishop and moaned, "Your Holiness, I have a confession to make. I have killed my own daughter."

The old bishop was dumbfounded and said, "What?"

King Stephen then said to the bishop, "It all happened six months ago, before the war broke out. My enemy King Robert tried to make me marry off my daughter Princess Mabel to his son Prince Gideon. But I refused, saying that I would rather see my daughter die by the sword than marry her off to my enemy's son. At first, I didn't think it would have any long-term consequences, but this led Prince Gideon to try to force my daughter to kill me. Of course, rather than do that, she confessed everything to me and mailed the dagger off to King Robert and his family, and I sealed in a note for Prince Gideon that said, 'Suck a lemon, little man!' This led to a war that lasted six months and, just tonight, culminated in Mabel's death by the sword! Therefore, I am responsible for the death of my daughter!" And he again began sobbing uncontrollably.

The old bishop then raised his hand and placed it on King Stephen's forehead, and said to him, "You are forgiven, my son."

The old king then raised his tear-stained face and asked the bishop, "Will you at least have a memorial service for the young princess?"

The bishop then said to Stephen, "That can be arranged, my son."

The next day, at the church, a lot of people attended the memorial service for Princess Mabel of Pines. The old bishop stepped up to the casket holding the princess' body and said, "Royalty, nobility, peasantry, thank you all for coming. Will King Stephen of Pines please step up and give a eulogy?"

The old king stepped up to his daughter's casket and said to the congregation, "Princess Mabel was a cheerful young girl who always had a sunny outlook at life. S-she was the light of my life. I loved to play with her and have her for a friend. But now…" Tears ran down his face and there was a catch in his voice as he spoke, "…now those days are over. Those days ended much too soon. She was too good to last in this sinful world. I hope she's happy up in Heaven." After saying these words, he trudged back to his pew where he wept over the shoulder of his sobbing captain of the guard. And King Stephen's son Alexander was grieving for the loss of his sister.

_Six months later_

Now King Stephen sat alone in his study. He was weeping as he thought, "Now here I am. All these good times I had with my daughter are nothing more than memories. Now it is my son Alexander's turn to rule. May he be a much better king than I." With this in mind, he placed his head in his arms and closed his eyes in deep sleep.

The next thing he knew, King Stephen heard his daughter Mabel calling for him, "Father. Father."

When he opened his eyes, he saw Mabel stretching out her hand to his. King Stephen was overjoyed and clasped her hand. And father and daughter skipped merrily through paradise.

**The End**


End file.
